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New Jersey Devils: Brunner, Elias & Line Duos

September 23, 2013, 11:47 AM ET [138 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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Sunday afternoon New Jersey Devils head coach Pete DeBoer made some pretty interesting remarks when talking to the media.

DeBoer mentioned that he liked the chemistry Damien Brunner and Patrik Elias have shown early on and said he looks at duos that work well rather than looking for three players that click.

“I like to work in pairs more than even lines. I thought Elias and Brunner had good chemistry. Not to minimize (Josefson’s) influence on that line, but I think at this point in training camp I’m looking more for pairs of guys and then we’ll fit in who goes with those guys as we go.” Credit to Tom Gulitti for the quotes.


I think DeBoer's smart to look at duos rather than trios as it allows you to mix and match the third player depending on the style of game or situation the team is in.

As my colleague Travis Yost mentioned in his post Sunday, this is hardly a new theory as Mike Babock has been doing it in Detroit for years, Paul MacLean does it in Ottawa and so forth.

Back to the point. Elias and Brunner have a nice combination of speed, creativity and goal scoring ability so they could be a very good duo. Perhaps the best the team has to offer.

Elias nor Brunner will play in Montreal tonight which leads me to believe Brunner has already done enough to earn a spot on the roster. If DeBoer or Lou Lamoriello were unsure about Brunner's game, you figure they'd want as many looks at him in game action as possible.

With more depth up front this season DeBoer will have many more combinations to play around with. It'll be interesting to see how he deploys his units and it certainly will be something I'll watch closely.

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Stan Butler is now 6th all time for most wins as an OHL head coach as his North Bay Battalion beat the Ottawa 67's on Sunday. Who did he pass? None other than Pete DeBoer.

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Eastern Conference playoff predictions.

Western Conference playoff predictions.

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